Whats more important, source cables or amp cables?

Al, I have read the same as your disclaimer for hours last night, and I tend to agree with you... The weakest link should rear it's ugly head, luckily a Serenade isn't a 25 dollar Monster cable, so although it's not as good as the Crescendo, its only a notch down.

Im just not sure where to place them for best effect. I guess unless someone has some experience with a similar system, and its too subjective at this point, there isn't much to do besides swap them in and out. I also read though that some cables can take time to recover, so A/B/A isnt the best unless I want to let it play for a day or two between sampling. I will eventually get another pair of Crescendos when I can find a deal on them, but until then Id like to maximize what I have invested.

Hope your ready for a slew of different answers. IME in two different Mcintosh systems with a least 3 different CDPs the pre to amp made the most improvement when using the better IC between the two. It is contrary to logic as one would think the source is the start of the chain and most vulnerable to IC changes. All I can conclude is that a source is a stronger signal than the preamp signal which is at a lower variable signal. If running at very high or full gain maybe it would be a different outcome, but who would want to.

Anywhere you loose the information you have a problem.A prime example of your only as good as your weakest link.

This is really system dependent and there is no true answer to your question. You really have to try for your self. You may even find that you hear no difference at all

They're all important, but I say amp to preamp first.